We wound up coming home from the beach on Friday since it was raining, which turned out to be a really good idea. I needed a weekend at home before going back to work. It’s been 11 days since I’ve been there, so I have to, you know, PREPARE.

Jon and I woke up on Saturday and spent the morning hanging out together – still in vacation mode.

(I have never heard of green beans being part of Eggs Benedict, but it worked out well.)

Wound up spending the entire day pretty much in full-on vacation mode, including pizza for lunch and ice cream after dinner.

We totally skipped the running group in lieu of sleeping, but we walked around downtown a little and then walked 2 miles on the greenway after breakfast. Good enough.

Today, I’m feeling the need to get back on track, in general. I’ve been a little lazy with my food choices the past few months – not just on vacation – and I’m starting to feel like I need to work on reinforcing all of the better habits I’ve developed over the years. Life is busy with work and running and laundry and all that, but I can handle that a little better than I’ve been handling it.

Nothing outrageous has been going on, I’ve just noticed that I’m doing things like packing my lunch 3 or 4 days a week vs. 5 because I’m too busy/tired in the mornings to deal with it – so I’m eating more drive-thru salads than I’d prefer.

I weighed this morning and was higher than normal (170 vs. my normal 162ish), but that was totally expected given the vacation. A few days of clean eating and increased water consumption should put me back to normal – BUT – a flippant attitude led me to 300 pounds, so I’m watchful. It’s been fairly easy for me to maintain my loss, but I will never take that for granted.

Basically, I need a tune-up, so I’m going to work on my habits for the next four weeks to see how I feel. Jon’s on board with doing the same, but he left for Brazil today, so who knows how that will go. Sometimes his traveling goes really well and he has time for exercise and decent eating and other times he’s so busy all week he barely seems to sleep.

I went back to my old chart method – something I don’t think I’ve done in a couple of years.

It’s taped to the inside of my bathroom mirror cabinet thing, so I’ll have to look at it each morning nearly immediately. I recorded our weight and how many miles we ran this morning (1.75 slow/tortured ones for me, 3 for him). I don’t know what purpose I really expect this to serve, but I want to start my day with some mindfulness and awareness of my goals and why I practice the habits that I practice (packing my lunch, running, avoiding junk, etc.).

Something else I did today that I haven’t done in a couple of months: prepare some stuff ahead of time.

I chopped up a watermelon so that it will be easy to pack and/or grab and go.

I also weighed, noted the ounces and packaged nuts and meat – two lunch staples.

Just makes my mornings so much easier.

I bought a few pounds of chicken and am thinking about cooking it all tonight so I’ll have easy dinners throughout the week that don’t consist solely of scrambled eggs. We’ll see.

I’m thinking ahead about my running situation and am conflicted about what to do next. I have a rough goal to run a half marathon sometime soon, but it’s complicated by the fact that I’m considering having plastic surgery at the end of the year (!) to remove some of the excess skin that’s hanging around (literally!) from my weight loss. I went to a consultation about a month ago and talked to a surgeon about my options (i.e., tummy tuck vs. lower body lift) and while I’m still not totally sure which route I’m going to go – I’m very likely going to go one way or another.

My original plan had been to train this winter/early spring for a half and run the same race I ran for my first 5k for my first half – late March 2014. Given my need to have a chunk of time off to recover from the surgery, though, it works out best to plan it around the holidays – so there’s no way a late March race will work.

My rough plan now is to train for a half marathon throughout the rest of the year and run one in December just a couple of weeks before the surgery – then spend the very end of the year/first of next year recovering before starting back in early spring.

I’m a little hesitant and feeling like I might be rushing things, though. Running longer distances isn’t as important to me as remaining injury-free/healthy, so I sort of wonder if I might be better off focusing on a 10k and then revisiting the half sometime next year.

All I know at this point (today) – for sure – is that I want to keep going. I want to be able to bounce back from the surgery very quickly, too – so I’m motivated to go into it in the best shape possible.

The surgery? I’m scared about it (because I don’t want to die) – and uncomfortable at the cost (because it seems selfish) – but it needs to happen. I’m pretty much done with fat loss in most places of my body, but I have skin left that’s just not going anywhere. Shouldn’t be surprising given a 110+ pound loss, but it’s disappointing. Bottom line: it bothers me and it hurts when I run. The surgeon estimates I have about 5 pounds of excess skin. Nice, huh?

The surgeon told me he anticipates a decent recovery since I don’t have “nutrition issues” (which he explained are very common with a lot of his weight loss patients who have had bariatric surgery – which I, of course, haven’t had) and I won’t need to have my abdominal muscles messed with (too much – if at all) since I’ve never been pregnant – but I’ll need a couple weeks of recovery and running will be off limits for a while, of course, etc.

I’ve gone back and forth about talking about this here and with people in my life – and I’ve decided not to hide it. I’m not necessarily going to be broadcasting the news – but this is a fact/result/reality of my weight loss. I’ve documented all other aspects. Seems dishonest to exclude this one.

Like this:

I’m glad you’re talking about the plastic surgery, and I don’t think it’s at all selfish. You’ve worked hard to get in shape, and if it’s causing discomfort, it needs to go. I would/will go that way myself, and yes, I’d be worried since surgery is always a risk, but I’d still do it.

Thanks! I’m glad to hear the support. I’ve been on the fence about it for a long time … at least a couple of years now … so I’m feeling like even just talking about it is a huge step. It’s time, though, you know?

I keep meaning to send you an email about how great you are doing with the running so I thought I’d drop you a quick comment and say….GO YOU 🙂 As a runner I love watching people begin to enjoy it and understand how it can become addicting. Either it does or doesn’t, it seems, especially if given a fair chance. So, I must say I am thoroughly enjoying watching your progression. I have no doubt you will eventually run the half marathon and do quite well. Yes, injury-free is the way to be.
Also, you know you’re really a runner when you start to think about planning your life around training/races 🙂 Proud of you!!

Thank you! You’re very kind. 🙂 I really feel like I’ve somehow become addicted after years of off and on trying it and hating it, which is so weird. I’ve actually been meaning to email you, too, to ask about how y’all (B) are doing health-wise, but life seems to get in the way every time. I hope all is well!

We’re doing OK–in March B had a body scan and they found a few small tumors in his liver but we are just hoping it’s residual cancer. For now they are watching and he’s gone back on monthly shots. He’ll have another scan in Aug/Sept time frame and we will go from there. It’s not unexpected since it had spread but it is disappointing. We don’t focus on it too-too much. He feels fine at least!
I’m doing my usual running thing. I need it to keep me sane (and the weight down) although I have to run crazy miles to do it–I’m thankful I can! I have a half in October and I hope to run Boston in 2014 (I qualified last Dec and won’t know if I got in until Sept).
I’m enjoying watching your running progress!!!

I’m so glad to hear y’all are doing ok! I’m sorry to hear about the tumors, but happy he feels fine and can go about life as normal. That has to be just incredibly stressful, though – the lingering fear. We are in a different boat given Jon’s was stage 1 and we’re mostly just in monitoring mode, but I think I’m starting to realize that nothing is ever the same after cancer – even if it’s eventually “cured.” I don’t blame you at all for needing running (in general). I see your posts on facebook and have noticed you definitely run some crazy miles. 🙂 Seems like you have fun. I think I’m GAINING weight with the running. I have no idea how it’s happening because my diet hasn’t really changed, but it has solidly crept up a pound or so. Very weird. Good luck with Boston! That’s exciting!